


Where to Shove Your Gender Norms

by IronWoman359



Series: Sanders Sides AU Ficlets [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bullying, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 19:01:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18079109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IronWoman359/pseuds/IronWoman359
Summary: Patton is late meeting Virgil after school, and Virgil realizes Patton is being bullied for his choice of clothing. He decides to show everyone at school just what he and his friends think of so called "gender norms."





	Where to Shove Your Gender Norms

Virgil paced back and forth outside the school, trying not to worry. Everything was probably fine. Patton had probably stopped to talk to a teacher or one of his other friends, that was all. He was still coming. Everything was fine. 

The longer Virgil paced, the harder it was for him to convince himself that it was true. He had just about made up his mind to go inside and look for his best friend when the side door of the school opened and Patton hurried out. 

Virgil’s heart jumped in relief, but it quickly sank back down again as he watched his friend come towards him. Patton’s shoulders were hunched and his books were clutched protectively in front of his chest. His hair was messy, sticking up every which way, and Virgil could see wrinkles in his blouse that had  _not_ been there a few hours earlier in their english class. 

“Patton?” Virgil asked, and when Patton glanced up at him, Virgil  _definitely_ knew something was wrong. “Patton, what happened.” 

“N-nothing, Virgil, I just, I lost track of time, sorry, I–” 

“ _Pat_ ,” Virgil said gently, and Patton’s eyes welled up with tears. 

Virgil opened his arms, and Patton stepped into them, his shoulders shaking as he cried. Virgil sighed, running his hands through Patton’s hair. 

“It…it was those kids again,” Patton murmured into Virgil’s chest, and Virgil felt anger boil up in his gut. 

“The ones who called you a sissy last week for wearing a dress to the spring formal?” 

Patton nodded, and Virgil tightened his hold around him.

“T-they…they cornered me in the hallway…they were pushing me around, and they said such  _awful_ things, Virgil, and when I teared up they j-just laughed…and then one opened up their locker and…” 

“They shoved you in a  _locker?”_  Virgil interrupted, pulling back and staring down at Patton in disbelief. Patton nodded, and Virgil cursed under his breath. 

“I-I’m sorry,” Patton sniffled, and Virgil shook his head. 

“ _No,_  Patton, you have absolutely  _nothing_ to be sorry for.” 

“Y-you’re upset,” Patton mumbled, leaning into Virgil’s embrace again. “I don’t like seeing you upset.” 

Virgil sighed, and kissed the top of Patton’s head. Leave it to his best friend to be thinking about other people, even in a time like this. 

“My best friend is being hurt.” he said softly. “I think I’m entitled to be upset.” 

“B-but that’s why I’m sorry,” Patton insisted. “If I just dressed like a normal person, if I didn’t keep wearing things like this–” he gestured to his yellow skirt and floral print blouse, “–then people would stop targeting me and–”

“Nope,” Virgil interrupted again, shaking his head vehemently. “You do NOT stop wearing what you love because a couple of  _dickheads_  can’t get their asses out of the 19th century.” 

“Virgil,  _language–”_

“In fact, tonight, I am going to stay over at your house, and tomorrow you and I are going to wear the brightest, flowiest, most colorful dresses that you own. That’ll show those moron’s where they can shove their gender norms.” 

“B-but, they’ll make fun of you too…”

“So what?” Virgil asked, taking Patton’s hand and starting their walk back to their neighborhood. “Let them. We’ll show them we don’t give a crap about what they say. In fact, I’m going to text Logan and Roman when we get home. They’ll totally be in on this, and I bet Roman could convince most of the theatre club to do it too. Those assholes aren’t gonna know what hit them.” 

Patton smiled a bit at that, and Virgil felt his spirits lift at the sight. The two spent the night at Patton’s house, and Virgil made it his mission to distract Patton from the world until it was time to go to sleep. 

And the next morning, his spirits lifted further as he and Patton walked hand-in-hand through the front doors of the school wearing matching floral print sundresses. Patton’s smile was a mile wide when Roman, wearing a full length formal gown, waved them over to his locker and began gushing over their outfits. Logan joined them a moment later, sporting a no-nonsense pencil skirt and blouse, and Virgil smiled as he looked around the hallway. 

He recognized several of Roman’s theatre friends wearing skirts and dresses, but he also saw several of the debate team members sporting similar outfits to Logan’s, and he even saw Dr. Picani, the school’s counselor and sponsor of the debate club, walk by in what he swore was a Lapis Lazuli cosplay dress. He looked at Logan and raised an eyebrow, and Logan blushed. 

“I may have sent a group email to my teammates last night,” he admitted. “I believe that Dr. Picani also informed the rest of the staff of our plan, it would not surprise me if we saw a few more of our male teachers in skirts and dresses today. 

“Guys…” Patton’s voice was shaky, but this time, Virgil could tell the tears welling in his friend’s eyes were happy ones. “Thank you.” 

Virgil pulled him into a hug, and kissed the top of his head. 

“Anything for you, Pat,” he murmured as Roman and Logan joined the embrace. “Anything for you.”


End file.
